Hi,
I have recently discovered this forum and it is great - thought I'd introduce myself and my hamster history!
I never really considered hamsters as a pet before - I had guinea pigs and a couple of rabbits growing up but hamsters were never on the radar.
A few years ago, my other half and I were in P&H buying fish food, when a little Russian dwarf hamster in the Adoption section just happened to catch my eye. He was small but determined, moving his bedding from one side of his little cage to the other. I called my boyfriend over to look at him - boyfriend had owned a dwarf ham when he was young so I thought he would like to see this one. The ham - named Jackson - was cute, but "we can't get hamster" was our consensus and we left him in the shop.
At work the next day, I couldn't get the little ham out of my mind, and phoned boyfriend (who had a day off work) to say perhaps we could get Jackson afterall. But boyfriend said no, I was just being silly...
Un-beknown to me, boyfriend had already been to P&H that morning to fetch Jackson, arriving before the store even opened to make sure the ham wasn't sold to anyone else! I arrived home to find a blue mini Duna on the table, complete with hamster. We were living with my parents at the time, and mum was initially a bit cross about the hamster - but soon fell in love with Jackson too as it transpired what a lovely little person he was
He lived for his food, would clamber onto your hand soon as he saw you, and we loved him dearly and had lots of fun with him.
We had him just under two years - he developed what I now think was diabetes and became very thin, but we maintained him with a high protein diet of egg (his fave) and chicken as well as his usual food. He also though developed a lump on his foot, which grew very big, and also swellings behind his ears. Although he was still bright, we had him put to sleep in April this year to prevent any suffering. He was individually cremated at a lovely little place near to home (£50, but money well spent in my view), and we put his ashes in a pretty wooden box to bring him home.
The pain of an empty catch was too much - and we missed having the little dude around. So on another visit to P&H a week later we found Robbie the robo - 5 months old, he has been 'beaten up' by other hamsters, his face was wonky and scarred from bites. He was small and weird looking, with long whiskers, long legs and comedy clown feet. He came to live with us, and although never tame we did get to the point where he would take cabbage (his fave) from our hand.
Robbie died last month, and it feels sad still to think about it as he went downhill quite quickly. He had had a stroke in the summer which resulted in a head tilt, but other than that had seemed fine until the last few days before he died. The vet couldn't help him - Robbie held on through the night but died in the morning when we went to check on him. He was also cremated, and now sits in a carved wooden box next to Jackson.
Again, an empty cage... so two weeks ago boyfriend was sent to P&H on a hamster mission and came back with 'Terminator' - another Russian from the adoption centre. He is 10-12 weeks old, long and slinky and likes to do meercat impressions. Already he will take food out of my hand - but he hisses and clicks at you if you get too close or to himself if he does anything stupid (like 'fall' through the bars of his little bridge).
We didn't like the name 'Terminator' so he has been renamed Michael, or Mikey. I have sort of decided that my future hams should have a connection with 'Jackson' (Robbie Jackson having once been a character in Eastenders after all!)
Phew that's a long intoduction! In short, I am now hooked on little hamsties and am so pleased I discovered what fun little creatures they are
I will try and figure out how to post pictures - though I have none of Mikey just yet!
My hamster story
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